Thrust Vectoring Control Mechanism

Mechanical Design

Electronics and Hardware

Control System and Firmware

The control system runs entirely in embedded firmware on the Teensy 4.1 in a continuous closed-loop that senses the rocket’s orientation, compares it to a reference, and commands the gimbal servos to correct any error. 

At each control loop iteration, the microcontroller reads orientation data from the IMU over I2C, including angular velocity and acceleration. 

The filtered orientation is compared to a reference attitude, producing pitch and yaw error signals. These errors are fed into independent PID controllers for each axis. 

Each PID output is mapped to a servo angle command, with software limits enforcing mechanical travel constraints and preventing binding. 

The final commands drive the gimbal servos, redirecting thrust to counteract the measured orientation error. This process repeats continuously, forming a closed-loop control system where sensor feedback directly drives mechanical correction.

Testing and Iteration

The system required multiple rounds of redesign and testing before it behaved reliably.

Early tests revealed issues such as mechanical compliance, electrical noise, and overly aggressive control gains.

Debugging was done by isolating each subsystem and testing it independently, then reintegrating it into the full system.

This process reinforced the importance of early physical testing and incremental improvement. Many problems only became obvious once the system was assembled and operating in real time.

Conclusion and Next Steps

This project represents my first complete closed-loop electromechanical system, built from the ground up.

It taught me how difficult it is to make a multi-disciplinary system work on the first attempt, and how tightly mechanical design, electronics, and control software are connected. More importantly, it showed me how to approach complex systems through structured testing, iteration, and debugging.

The next step for this project is flight testing. Future work would involve integrating the system into a rocket airframe, validating performance under real thrust and vibration, refining control gains based on flight data, and improving robustness for launch conditions.